Group composition store

ABSTRACT

A system for web based imaging comprising: at least one graphic store for storing a plurality of different graphics; a group composition store for storing a plurality of compositions, with each different composition referencing at least one graphic in a graphic store that is external to the group composition store and including data to place the referenced graphic within the composition; and a plurality of different user profiles, each for a different imaging client, with each user profile including a reference to the group composition store.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an improved method, systemand program product for performing web imaging operations, and moreparticularly, to such operations using a group composition store.

The use of web applications has been growing over the years as theInternet becomes more sophisticated. Because most web applications aredesigned to work with cross-platform browsers, they operateindependently from the operating system (“OS”). In other words, most webapplications can work with any operating systems, such as LINUX®,WINDOWS®, or MACINTOSH®. A specific problem arises in obtaining anefficient organization of stores that will permit different userssharing the same set of compositions

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, the present invention comprises, in one embodiment, a systemfor web based imaging comprising: at least one graphic store for storinga plurality of different graphics; a group composition store for storinga plurality of compositions, with each different composition referencingat least one graphic in a graphic store that is external to the groupcomposition store and including data to place the referenced graphicwithin the composition; and a plurality of different user profiles, eachfor a different imaging client, with each user profile including areference to the group composition store.

In a further aspect, the present invention includes a default graphicsstore for at least one of the imaging clients; a default compositionstore for the at least one imaging client, including a compositiontherein with a reference to a graphic within a graphics store; andwherein the user profile for the at least one imaging client includes areference to the default graphic store and the default compositionstore.

In yet a further aspect of the present invention, one or more of theuser profiles include a reference to a default composition within thegroup composition store.

In yet a further aspect of the present invention, the system includes afirewall protecting the plurality of imaging clients; and wherein atleast one composition in the group composition store references agraphic outside of the firewall.

In yet a further aspect of the present invention, the group compositionstore contains a method that prevent at least selected ones of theimaging clients from deleting or modifying at least one composition inthe group composition store.

In yet a further aspect of the present invention, the system comprises aweb extension that will enumerate compositions stored in the groupcomposition store as available to the imaging client.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, a program product isprovided that includes machine readable program code for implementing:at least one graphic store for storing a plurality of differentgraphics; a group composition store for storing a plurality ofcompositions, with each different composition referencing at least onegraphic in a graphic store that is external to the group compositionstore and including data to place the referenced graphic within thecomposition; and a plurality of different user profiles, each for adifferent imaging client, with each user profile including a referenceto the group composition store.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an architectural diagram of a client-server network system inwhich the present invention can be implemented;

FIG. 2 is an architectural diagram of the client-server network systemof FIG. 1 with the imaging client shown outside of a firewall;

FIG. 3 is an architectural diagram of a second client-server networksystem in which the present invention can be implemented;

FIG. 4 is an architectural diagram of the client-server network systemof FIG. 3 with the imaging client shown outside of a firewall;

FIG. 5 is an architectural diagram of the client-server network using ashared or group composition store and graphics store;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a flow chart illustrating the preferredfunctionality of the transfer method of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the preferred functionality forselecting a profile per FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of theinvention for one example at a very high level.

FIG. 9 is an architectural diagram of an example imaging client.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of a graphicsstore.

FIG. 11. Is a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of agraphics store.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS

The following terms and acronyms are used throughout the detaileddescription:

“API”. An application programming interface (API) is a library ofprogrammatic methods provided by a system of some kind (an example is aweb-based imaging system, as in the present invention) that enablesclient programs (web content operating within the browser is oneexample) to interact with that system. One method of creating an API isto create a library. For example, in Java, a library (conventionallycalled a jar file) is created by defining a class or classes, compilingthe class or classes, and grouping the class or classes into a library.For example, the following class could be created:

-   -   class BaseConversionAPI {static public String convertBaseToBase(    -   String inNumber, int inBase, int outBase) {// Code for returning        a string representing inNumber converted to outBase}}        That class would then be compiled with the command:    -   java.exe BaseConversionAPI.java.

NOTE: Programs are typically stored in text files, which are “compiled”in order to create “object files” which contain the executable (orinterpretable) instructions. In this case, the program is contained inthe file BaseConversionAPI.java. The act of compiling creates a filenamed “BaseConversionAPI.class” containing instructions for a specificcomputing architecture (in this case the Java Virtual Machine)corresponding to the program.

Next in this example, a Jar file would be created:

-   -   jar.exe cvf BaseConversionAPI.tar BaseConversionAPI.class        This command creates a “library” file containing the        BaseConversionAPI class. This last step is not absolutely        required. In some instances, APIs are provided as files        containing executable instructions (such as the        BaseConversionAPI.class file).

References regarding the creation of APIs:

-   -   http://www.library.yale.edu/orbis2/public/activity/API.html

Note that the APIs to networks services (graphic store, compositionstore, and user profile store, all to be discussed below) would becreated to be accessible through a remote invocation technology such asCORBA, JAVA-RMI, DCOM, RPC, or SOAP. A wide variety of printedreferences are available that describe how APIs can be created to beaccessible through a remote invocation technology, such as one of thetechnologies noted above.

Although libraries are referred to as APIs through out this patent, itis important to realize that an API is not really a library; an API isan interface that a library implements. However, to simplify the text inthis patent an API and the implementation of an API as a library will beused interchangeably.

“Client-Server”. A model of interaction in a distributed system in whicha program at one site sends a request to a program at another site andwaits for a response. The requesting program is called the “client,” andthe program which responds to the request is called the “server.” In thecontext of the World Wide Web (discussed below), the client is a “Webbrowser” (or simply “browser”) which runs on the computer of a user; theprogram which responds to browser requests by serving Web pages, orother types of Web content, is commonly referred to as a “Web server.”

“Composition.” Composition, also referred to as a “graphicscomposition,” comprises a file with links to graphic data serviced as asingle unit, i.e., a graphic. The file also usually includes informationon the placement of those graphics on a sequence of canvases. Itdescribes how to combine one or more graphics from one or more sourcesonto a sequence of canvasses, in a variety of different ways. The use ofcompositions allows multiple compositions to reference a graphic in agraphic store without having to duplicate the graphic.

“Composition store”. Composition store refers to a service (ideallyimplemented as a network service) that stores and provides access toimaging composition(s) that can be accessed by the user or web services.In this context, providing “access” includes providing methods forbuilding compositions, modifying compositions, and accessing thempiecemeal. For example, a set of methods available for execution via thecomposition store might include the methods Get a Composition, Create aComposition, Delete a Composition, and Modify a Composition.

“Content”. A set of executable instructions that is served by a serverto a client and that is intended to be executed by the client so as toprovide the client with certain functionality. Web content refers tocontent that is meant to be executed by operation of a Web browser. Webcontent, therefore, may non-exhaustively include one or more of thefollowing: HTML code, SGML code, XML code, XSL code, CSS code, Javaapplet, JavaScript and C-“Sharp” code.

“Exchange infrastructure.” An exchange infrastructure is a collection ofservices distributed throughout a network that stores imaging dataassociated with a particular user through a user profile.

“Firewall.” A firewall filters out unwanted communication packets in oneor more directions. By way of example but not by way of limitation, inone implementation of a firewall, requests from inside a firewall may bemade to access data on the outside of the firewall, and responses tosuch requests are typically permitted. Communications initiated fromoutside the firewall to devices inside of the firewall are typically notpermitted. Generally, the firewall may be implemented by a firewallproxy server that allows devices inside the firewall to pass HTTPrequests to web servers outside the firewall. Obviously, other protocolsmay be used to implement communication through the firewall.

“Generic access instructions.” A generic access instruction refers to anexecutable instruction that is intended to cause the executing device togenerate generic access requests in order to access a set of graphicsdata. These instructions call methods provided by, for example, animaging extension. Methods provided by the environment in which theprogram is executed are typically called an “Application ProgrammingInterface” (API). Note that a generic access instruction does notinclude the location of the target graphic data. Typically, the targetgraphic data is pre-selected (generally by a user) and its location isdetermined from information that is maintained locally within theexecuting device.

“Hyperlink.” A navigational link from one document to another, from oneportion (or component) of a document to another, or to a Web resource,such as a Java applet. Typically, a hyperlink is displayed as ahighlighted word or phrase that can be selected by clicking on it usinga mouse to jump to the associated document or document portion or toretrieve a particular resource.

“Hypertext System.” A computer-based informational system in whichdocuments (and possibly other types of data entities) are linkedtogether via hyperlinks to form a user-navigable “web.”

“Graphics data.” Graphics data refers to digital data capable of beingrepresented as two or more dimensional graphics, such as a PortableDocument Format (“PDF”) file or a Joint Photographic Experts Group(“JPEG”) file.

“Graphics store.” Graphics store refers to a network service or astorage device for storing graphics data that can be accessed by theuser or other network services. The graphics data store preferablyaccepts the graphics data in multiple standard file formats, and thegraphics data is converted into these file formats when necessarydepending on the implementation.

“Internet.” A collection of interconnected or disconnected networks(public and/or private) that are linked together by a set of standardprotocols (such as TCP/IP and HTTP) to form a global, distributednetwork. (While this term is intended to refer to what is now commonlyknown as the Internet, it is also intended to encompass variations whichmay be made in the future, including changes and additions to existingstandard protocols.)

“World Wide Web” (“Web”). Used herein to refer generally to both (i) adistributed collection of interlinked, user-viewable hypertext documents(commonly referred to as Web documents or Web pages) that are accessiblevia the Internet, and (ii) the client and server software componentswhich provide user access to such documents using standardized Internetprotocols. Currently, the primary standard protocol for allowingapplications to locate and acquire Web documents is HTTP, and the Webpages are encoded using HTML. However, the terms “Web” and “World WideWeb” are intended to encompass WAP and WML for mobile phone webbrowsers, as well as other current and future markup languages andtransport protocols which may be used in place of (or in addition to)HTML and HTTP.

“Web Site.” A computer system that serves informational content over anetwork using the standard protocols of the World Wide Web. Typically, aWeb site corresponds to a particular Internet domain name, such as“HP.com,” and includes the content associated with a particularorganization. As used herein, the term is generally intended toencompass both (i) the hardware/software server components that servethe informational content over the network, and (ii) the “back end”hardware/software components, including any non-standard or specializedcomponents, that interact with the server components to perform servicesfor Web site users. Importantly, a Web Site can have additionalfunctionality, for example, a Web site may have the ability to printdocuments, scan documents, etc.

“HTML” (HyperText Markup Language). A standard coding convention and setof codes for attaching presentation and linking attributes toinformational content within documents. (HTML 2.0 is currently theprimary standard used for generating Web documents.) During a documentauthoring stage, the HTML codes (referred to as “tags”) are embeddedwithin the informational content of the document. When the Web document(or HTML document) is subsequently transferred from a Web server to abrowser, the codes are interpreted by the browser and used to displaythe document. Additionally in specifying how the Web browser is todisplay the document, HTML tags can be used to create links to other Webdocuments (commonly referred to as “hyperlinks”). For more informationon HTML, see Ian S. Graham, The HTML Source Book, John Wiley and Sons,Inc., 1995 (ISBN 0471-11894-4).

“HTTP” (HyperText Transport Protocol). The standard World Wide Webclient-server protocol used for the exchange of information (such asHTML documents, and client requests for such documents) between abrowser and a Web server. HTTP includes a number of different types ofmessages which can be sent from the client to the server to requestdifferent types of server actions. For example, a “GET” message, whichhas the format GET <URL>, causes the server to return the document orfile located at the specified URL.

“URL” (Uniform Resource Locator). A unique address which fully specifiesthe location of a file or other resource on the Internet or a network.The general format of a URL is protocol: //machineaddress:port/path/filename.

“User Information.” User information is identification and securityinformation used in accessing graphics composition(s) and graphics dataassociated with a particular user profile. It is preferably accessedeither directly or indirectly through methods provided by an extensioncomponent integrated into the web browser.

“PDA” (Personal Digital Assistant). A small hand-held computer used towrite notes, track appointments, manage email and browse the web,generally with far less storage capacity than a desktop computer.

“Personal imaging repository” A personal imaging repository is aconceptual term describing the exchange infrastructure used to exchangegraphics composition and graphics data with web services. Users areassociated with their graphics data through user profiles. It should benoted that the personal imaging repository can represent any type orcombination of data storage devices.

“Reference” A reference is intended to be a generic term that includes aURL reference, or in some cases a pointer, socket number or otherbackroom detail, to another internal or external location.

“Web service” A web service is intended to refer to a service that isprovided (at least in part) by a web server. But a web service is abroader concept than a web server. In this regard, a “Web server” is aprogram that, using the client/server model and the World Wide Web'sHypertext Transfer Protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), serves thefiles that form Web pages to Web users (whose computers contain HTTPclients that forward their requests). Every computer on the Internetthat contains a Web site must have a Web server program. The mostpopular Web servers currently are Microsoft's Internet InformationServer (Internet Information Server), which comes with the Windows NTserver; Netscape FastTrack and Enterprise servers; and Apache, a Webserver for UNIX-based operating systems. Other Web servers includeNovell's Web Server for users of its NetWare operating system and IBM'sfamily of Lotus Domino servers, primarily for IBM's OS/390 and AS/400customers.

Web servers often come as part of a larger package of Internet- andintranet-related programs for serving e-mail, downloading requests forFile Transfer Protocol files, and building and publishing Web pages.This larger package is referred to as the web service. Parameters for aWeb server include how well it works with various operating systems andother servers, its ability to handle server-side programming, andpublishing, search engines, and site building tools in the package.

“XML” XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a flexible way to createcommon information formats and share both the format and the data on theWorld Wide Web, intranets, and elsewhere. XML is “extensible” because,unlike HTML, the markup symbols are unlimited and self-defining. XML isa simpler and easier-to-use subset of the Standard Generalized MarkupLanguage (SGML), the standard for how to create a document structure.XML is similar to the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Both XML andHTML contain markup symbols to describe the contents of a page or file.HTML, however, describes the content of a Web page (mainly text andgraphic images) only in terms of how it is to be displayed andinteracted with. For example, the letter “p” placed within markup tagsstarts a new paragraph. XML describes the content in terms of what datais being described. For example, the word “phonenum” placed withinmarkup tags could indicate that the data that followed was a phonenumber. This means that an XML file can be processed purely as data by aprogram or it can be stored with similar data on another computer or,like an HTML file, that it can be displayed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following pending application is hereby incorporated by reference,in its entirety: “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING DATA IN A DISTRIBUTEDSYSTEM” by Shell Simpson and Philip Verghese, Ser. No. 09/712336 filedon Nov. 13, 2000.

An example of a client-server architecture in which the presentinvention can be implemented is shown in FIG. 1.

The present invention, in one aspect, is directed to implementing theconcept of allowing a user's information to follow him/her around, i.e.,be accessible from a variety of different locations, both inside afirewall and outside of the firewall, as well as from a variety ofdifferent machines. This concept is implemented using one or more userprofiles 24 and 26 in combination with the concept of a personal imagingrepository 50 for storing user graphics across a distributedenvironment. The personal imaging repository 50 can be distributedacross multiple locations, multiple machines and multiple architectures.For example, some graphic information might be stored in a localgraphics store 60 behind a firewall 14, while other graphics might bestored in external graphics stores 70 outside of the firewall 14. Onesuch local or external graphics store could be on the user's hard drive.Another local or external graphics store could be the hard disk storagefor a multi-functional peripheral, such as a printer/copier/fax machine.Another local or external graphics store might be on an Intranet server,or an Internet server. The actual storage location is determinedaccording to user preference and application. Thus, graphics informationgathered from the multi-function peripheral device could stay in agraphics store on that device and be subject to access by the user,thereby improving performance. Likewise, graphics information intendedfor Internet destinations might be stored in a graphics store on aserver accessible via the Internet. Graphics information, where wideaccessibility is desired, might be stored on the Internet. From theperspective of imaging destinations, i.e., web sites that use graphicsinformation, all available information would be available withoutspecial knowledge. In the present discussion, the term “graphic” isintended to mean any image, including a text image, a photo image, PDFfiles and anything else that can be represented in two or moredimensional graphics. For further information, see the definition for“graphics data” in the definition section. For further information onthe meaning of a “graphics store,” see the detailed discussion below.

For purposes of an overview of FIG. 1, an imaging client machine 12 isshown behind a firewall 14. The imaging client 12 may access by means ofa browser 18 web content 16 obtained from servers 30 and 32 inside thefirewall 14, and web content obtained from servers 40 and 42 outside ofthe firewall. The imaging client may store graphics obtained from thisweb content in its personal imaging repository 50, in the form orcontext of a composition (see the definition of “composition” above),either inside or outside of the firewall 14.

IMAGING EXTENSION. The imaging client 12 includes an imaging extension22 (also shown as 922 in FIG. 9). The imaging extension 22 is configuredto respond to the execution of generic access instructions from the webcontent 16 by generating/mapping to corresponding imaging clientspecific commands of the imaging client 12. However, this will onlyhappen if user information 20 (containing references 24, 26 to theuser's profiles 64, 74) is available to the imaging extension 22, toaccess the user's personal imaging repository 50.

The imaging extension 22 may be implemented/thought of as an applicationprogramming interface (API). The API used for the imaging extension ispreferably in accordance with a system wide standard. The generic accessinstructions from the web content, when executed, may cause imagingextension API calls to be issued to the API in order to effect, viaimaging client specific instructions, access to the user's personalimaging repository 50. It will be recognized that there are many otherways (both hardware and software) to implement this same functionality.The present invention is not limited to any one way. In essence, theimaging extension 22 is for accessing user information 20, and forproviding an opaque interface between the web content 16 executing inthe browser 18 and the personal imaging repository 50 and otherfunctionality of the imaging client. An example implementation of theimaging extension will be discussed in more detail below.

The user information 20 in FIG. 1 comprises at least one or morereferences to one or more user profiles. Each reference would, by way ofexample but not by way of limitation, be implemented by a URL reference,or in some cases a pointer, socket number or other backroom detail. Thereference for the user profile could be to a location within the imagingclient itself, or to a location external to the imaging client, such asthe server 66 or the server 76 shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1 the userinformation 20 includes a reference 24 to an internal user profile 64and a reference 26 to an external user profile 74 that are located in aservers 66 and 76, respectively.

Each referenced user profile 64 and 74 might include user identificationinformation and at least a reference to all or a portion of a personalimaging repository 50 for that user profile. As noted above, a referencemay include a URL reference (or pointer, socket or other backroomdetail) to one or more composition stores. In the example of FIG. 1, theinternal user profile 64 includes a reference 67 to a defaultcomposition store 62 on a separate server 63. Additionally, the internaluser profile 64 includes a reference 68 to a default graphics store 60on a separate server 61, and a reference 69 to a default compositionwithin some composition store, which could be the default compositionstore 62. Note that unlike the default composition store reference 67and the default graphic store reference 68, which generally do notchange and are used by the imaging extension to locate the defaultgraphic store service and default composition store service, the defaultcomposition reference 69, in many embodiments, is intended to changeoften. It is a reference to the composition that is accessed by“default” by “imaging destination services”. Imaging source servicestypically ignore the existing value of a default composition reference69 and are only interested in changing the value of default compositionreference 69 so that it refers to a composition created by the imagingsource service.

Note also, that in general, the profile references will determine whichcompositions will be enumerated/are available to the user using thatprofile.

Likewise, in FIG. 1 there is also shown the reference 26 to the externaluser profile 74. In FIG. 1, the external user profile is disposed on theserver 76 external to the imaging client 12 and external to the firewall14. Note that typically the firewall provides the boundary between aprivate intranet and the public Internet. The external user profile 74includes a reference 77 to a default composition store 72 on a server 73that is external to the firewall 12, a reference 78 to a defaultgraphics store 70 on a server 71 that is likewise external to thefirewall 14, and a reference 79 to a default composition in the defaultexternal composition store 72 or another composition store external tothe firewall.

It should be noted that there may be multiple internal and/or externaluser profiles, selectable automatically or manually based on one or morecriteria. For example, there could be a different internal and externaluser profile for each different imaging client that the user may use,with the particular internal or external user profile selected byproviding the user identification information, other informationincluding location information, and the imaging client machineinformation to the imaging extension 22.

Note that the same user can have multiple user profiles. This isparticularly advantageous when firewalls are used. This is because, asnoted above, different graphic stores and composition stores would beused, depending on whether the imaging client was inside the firewall oroutside the firewall. Multiple user profiles for the same user mayresult in multiple personal imaging repository segments associated tothat single user, each accessible via a different user profile. Notethat multiple users in a group (each with their own personal imagingrepository) can refer to the same imaging information using sharedservices, i.e., a group composition store, as noted above. Part of eachuser's personal imaging repository, in this scenario, can be shared by agroup having a common association, such as a group project.

In order to select a user profile if more then one is provided, theimaging client 12 will include code (typically residing in the imagingextension 22, for example) for selecting one from the internal userprofile 64 and the external user profile 74. In one embodiment, thiscould simply be implemented by code that provides a menu to the user ofthe imaging client 12 to allow the manual selection of the reference tothe desired user profile. Alternatively, or in addition, the code couldbe implemented to automatically select the user profile based on acriteria such as the imaging client machine being used, or whether theimaging client is connected to a network inside the firewall 14 or isotherwise inside the firewall, or whether it is outside of the firewall14.

In operation, in order to obtain the default composition store, thedefault graphics store, and the default composition, the web contentinvokes a method provided by the imaging extension 22 (the imagingextension API). The imaging extension 22, in turn, obtains a referenceto the appropriate user profile in an imaging client profile store inthe user information section 20 and invokes (using remote invocationtechnologies like CORBA, SOAP, etc.) methods provided by the profilestore for the purpose of obtaining the default composition store,default graphic store, or default composition.

Profile Store. Note that the profile store is simply a service in theuser information section 20 that includes appropriate methods to create,modify, access, and cancel profiles in a profile storage. Such a userprofile store service might include data, i.e., one or a plurality ofuser profiles, and a plurality of typical methods for accessing andmodifying the stored user profiles. For example, the service mightinclude methods entitled “Get a User Profile,” “Modify a User Profile,”and “Delete a User Profile.” Accordingly, the imaging extension API willmap to the appropriate methods in the user profile store in which theuser profile is stored in order to obtain the reference to the items(such as default graphic store, default composition store, and defaultcomposition) in the user profile.

It should be noted that the imaging client, shown located inside of thefirewall 12, can access web content outside the firewall from the webservers 40 and 42. Likewise, either user profile may referencecomposition stores and graphic stores outside the firewall 14.

Typically, each web server will serve different web content, dependingon the services and graphics that it is offering. Each web content ispre-configured with specific executable instructions depending on thetype of service the server machine provides. In this example, the webserver 40 may be for a printing service, whereas the web server 30 mayprovide a special photo graphics service. Consequently, the web contentfrom the server 30 may be very different from the web content from theserver 40, with each including different executable instructions to thebrowser 18.

The user will typically initially store graphics that are to be operatedon by a selected web service (a printer service, for example) in theuser's personal imaging-repository, with the particular storage chosenwithin the user's personal imaging repository in accordance with theuser profile that is active, or as manually selected by the user, oralternatively as selected by the web service or other application thatis operating in the browser. By way of example, the user could store agraphic to be operated on in his/her personal imaging repository 50inside of the firewall 14 in an internal graphics store, which could bethe default internal graphics store 60. The particular internal graphicstore used for this storage would be selected for example, eithermanually via a pop-up menu presentation to a user, or automatically byan imaging extension 22 that references and uses the information in oneor more internal user profiles 64 on a server 66. As noted above,internal user profile 64 would typically include a reference 67, such asa uniform resource locator (URL) for example, to a default internalcomposition store 62, which could be any internal composition storeselected by the user or the system. The internal user profile would alsoinclude a reference 68 to the default internal graphics store 60, whichcould again be any internal graphics store chosen by the user of thesystem. Additionally, the internal user profile would include areference 69 to a default composition. This default composition would bethe last internal composition selected by the user.

Alternatively, the user could choose to store the graphic to be operatedon in a graphics store in the user's personal imaging repository 50outside of the firewall 14, or this could be required because theimaging client 12 is outside of the firewall 14. This external graphicsstore could be a default external graphics store 70. Note that theparticular graphics referenced by a composition in an externalcomposition store will also be located external to the firewall. Theparticular external graphic store used for this storage would beselected, either manually via a pop-up menu, for example, orautomatically by the imaging extension 22 that references and uses theinformation in the external user profile 74 on a server 76. As noted,the external user profile would include a reference 77, such as a URLfor example, to the default external composition store 72, which couldbe any external composition store selected by the user or the system.The external user profile would also include a reference 78 to thedefault external graphics store 70, which could again be any externalgraphics store chosen by the user of the system. Additionally, theexternal user profile 74 would include a reference 79 to a defaultcomposition. This default composition would be the last externalcomposition selected by the user.

The default composition could be set in a variety of ways. The two mostcommon ways are: 1) the user previously selected a composition throughan Internet Imaging home page, or through any other Internet servicethat displays a list of available compositions that the user may select.Once selected, the default composition reference in the user's profileis updated to refer to the selected composition. It is important to notethat the Internet Imaging Home page is merely one example of a servicethat allows the user to choose which composition should be the defaultcomposition. Other web services could provide the same sort ofcapability; 2) the user interacted with a web service that created a newcomposition. Typically, web services (web server+web content running ina user's browser) that create new compositions want the new compositionto be readily available (which is accomplished by making the newlycreated composition the default composition).

Thus, it is important to note that the user can implicitly or explicitlyselect the default composition in his/her profile. As noted above, theuser can explicitly choose the default composition by interacting with aweb service (such as an Internet Imaging Home service), which providescontent capable of changing the “default composition”. Alternatively,the user can implicitly select the default composition by interactingwith web services that create new compositions and makes those newcompositions the default composition in order to make the newcomposition readily available as the user subsequently browses to otherweb services.

As an example of default composition selection for use so that anotherweb service may operate on a graphic, assume a graphics store on acamera server, which store contains photo graphics that the user wishesto print. The user browses to the camera's web page, wherein he/shechooses a desired photo image and retrieves that into the user'spersonal imaging repository, where it becomes a graphic in a newcomposition. This photo composition chosen by the user is now thedefault composition.

Referring now to the individual components, the imaging client, by wayof example, but not by way of limitation, would typically include aconfiguration with a web browser 18, a storage module of some type 20with user information and other information, an imaging extension 22,and some form of user interface (not shown), e.g., a keyboard anddisplay device. Generally, the browser would be implemented undercontrol of a microprocessor. An example imaging client 12, in the formof a personal computer, is shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 9 is a high leveldiagram of a personal computer/imaging client 12. As shown, the personalcomputer 12 includes a processor 902, a memory 904, the WEB browser 912,the imaging extension 922, a reserved storage area 916, and aninput/output (I/O) port(s) 908. All of these components are connected byone or more local interfaces 910. The I/O port 908 links to the serverspreviously described. The processor 902 is used to execute the WEBbrowser 912.

Web Content. In operation, the browser 18 initially accesses a web siteand using appropriate request commands (HTTP for the current generationof browsers), downloads therefrom web content. As noted by thedefinition herein, the web content 16 includes a set of executableinstructions that are intended to be executed in the browser 18 so as toprovide the imaging client 12 with predetermined functionality. Theseexecutable instructions comprise generic access instructions (see thedefinition above) which are system wide instructions, expressed in somelanguage (e.g., Java) and that call the methods of an imaging extensionAPI to access the user's personal imaging repository to perform webimaging operations. Such generic access instructions can be, by way ofexample but not by way of limitation, Java, JavaScript, C-sharpinstructions. The system wide standard typically specifies “genericaccess instructions,” “generic access requests,” and “target graphics.”

A variety of functionality could be provided by the web content. Forexample, the web content might include executable instructions forcausing the imaging client 12 to display target graphics, i.e., showavailable graphics on the accessed web site. Another web content mightinclude executable instructions for displaying a print button, and ifthe print button is clicked, causing the imaging client to generate aprint job that describes a graphic in the personal imaging repositoryfor the user and transmits the print job to a printer. It could alsoprovide a preview of the target graphic. Accordingly, the web content 16in FIG. 1 refers to a set of executable instructions that are downloadedinto the browser 18 to perform a service requested by the user.

The web browser executes the web content, whether it is HTMLinterpreted/executed by the browser into marks displayed on a user'sscreen, or Java and JavaScript or some other appropriate language. Aspreviously noted, the web content contains executable instructions thatuse the API provided by the imaging extension 22 to indirectly accessthe user's personal imaging repository. For example, the executableinstructions of the web content might obtain an opaque access to theinformation from the user's profile (in order to specify the user'spersonal imaging repository) by interacting with a user profile storeservice in which the user's profile is located.

The executable instructions of the web content might perform this accessin order to obtain an opaque reference to the reference 67 to the user'sinternal default composition store and an opaque reference to thereference 68 to the user's internal default graphics store. The webcontent might further use the API provided by the imaging extension 22to add a new graphic to the internal default graphic store via thisopaque reference to the reference 68.

Imaging Extension. In a preferred embodiment, the imaging extension 22is constructed to prevent the web content 16 (i.e., the executableinstructions from the web service), from directly accessing arbitraryservices and the user's personal imaging repository. In essence, the webcontent uses the imaging extension as the gateway to access everythingin the user's personal imaging repository, including the information inthe user profile. In the discussion herein, the term “opaque reference”is used. An “opaque reference” is a reference that does not exposeinformation about an underlying resource. The possessor of an opaquereference is unable to determine anything about the resource from theopaque reference or to modify the opaque reference so as to alter whichresource is being referenced. (In contrast, if a URL is provided, forexample, “http://www.hp.com”, it would be fairly straightforward for theweb content to modify the URL to refer to a different resource, forexample, “http://www.xerox.com”.)

This restricted access imposed on the web content can be implementedusing a variety of methods. The designer can implement the API for theimaging extension 22 so that the API only accepts references from theweb content that were previously provided thereto by the imagingextension 22. In essence, the imaging client/web content would not beable to arbitrarily supply references when calling the API provided bythe imaging extension. The web content 16 (running on the imaging client12), in order to communicate to imaging client resources and the user'spersonal imaging repository 50, must first obtain opaque referencesusing the API of the imaging extension 22. For example, if the webcontent 16 wanted to access the default graphics store 60, the webcontent 16 would be required to call a method (provided by the API ofthe imaging extension 22) that provides an opaque reference to thedefault graphic store. This reference could then be used in subsequentcalls by the web content to the API of the imaging extension 22.

By way of example but not by way of limitation, one approach toaccomplishing this restriction would be to create a session. Forexample, an imaging extension API for a particular operation mightcomprise:

-   -   CreateParticularOperationSession( ): returns SessionID    -   PerformOperation( Parameter, SessionID id ): returns Boolean        (which indicates a result)    -   DeleteParticularOperationSession(SessionID sessionID)

Accordingly, the web content would be required to call the imagingextension API to first create a session by callingCreateParticularOperationSession, which would return a SessionID. ThisSessionID would be used to subsequently refer to the particular session.Next, the web content would call the PerformOperation in the imagingextension API with particular input and the session id. The web contentcan then perform a variety of manipulations, but will not be able todirectly access parameters and operations which are “associated” withthe session id, because the association is accomplished in a way that is“opaque” to the client. The imaging extension API and that API aloneknows how to use the session id to determine/map to imaging clientparameters. Often, the session id will be a reference such as a pointerto a data structure containing information relevant to the session. Thisdata structure might contain the parameters and other pertinentinformation. When the web content has completed its operation, the webcontent calls the DeleteParticularOperationSession in the imagingextension API with the session id as a parameter. This instructs theimaging extension API to free whatever resources (such as memory) areassociated with the session. Note that if the web content changes thesession id, that will not allow the web content to obtain the restrictedparameters, but will only confuse the imaging extension with thepreviously unseen session id.

The API provided by the imaging extension may typically be implementedas a library of methods that provide controlled access to the APIsprovided by the network services participating in the user's personalimaging repository. This imaging extension API is implemented so as toinvoke the APIs provided by the user profile store, composition store,and graphic store. The API provided by the imaging extension isgenerally not accessed through remote invocation technology, although itmay be implemented to use remote invocation technology to access theAPIs provided by the network services participating in the user'spersonal imaging repository. The API provided by the imaging extensionis not an exact replication of the APIs provided by the user profilestore, composition store, and graphic store, since this API seeks toprovide controlled access to those network services through (among othertechniques) opaque references.

From the above example, it can be seen that the web content is preventedfrom using the API provided by the imaging extension to access arbitraryservices. The key to this restriction is that the web content would notbe able to supply the addresses for these arbitrary services. The webcontent would only be able to refer to services through opaquereferences provided by the imaging extension API (so as not to exposethe actual reference/URL to the web content). For example, the webcontent might use the API to obtain a list of opaque references toavailable compositions. This list of opaque references would map to thereal references/URLs in the imaging extension alone. Thus, insubsequently referring to these compositions, the web content would notbe allowed to supply a URL (which might be one of its own creation),because that created URL would not map within the imaging extension toreal resources. Instead, the web content would be required to usereferences provided to it by the API, which only make sense in thecontext of the current session with that API. Specific unusual aspectsof the foregoing are that the code attempting to use particularresources is externally obtained web content, and the resources it isattempting to access/use are network services.

To state the foregoing in a different way, only references obtainedthrough the imaging extension (by calling the API) can be subsequentlyused by web content. Other “made up” references are effectively treatedas gibberish by the imaging extension 22.

The web content might start off by getting an opaque reference to thedefault composition store from the imaging extension (using theappropriate API). Later, the web content might use the opaque referenceto the default composition store to obtain a set of references tocontent within the default composition store. These opaque referencescould, in turn, be used to obtain opaque references to the graphicsassociated with each composition, so that the web content obtains anopaque reference to each individual graphic. But it is important to notethat each of these opaque references only makes sense in the context ofthe web content's interaction with the imaging extension. It's alsoimportant to note that only the opaque references originating from theimaging extension would be recognized by the imaging extension. (In alikely implementation, the “references” provided by the imagingextension would simply be gibberish strings of characters that only makesense to the imaging extension.)

Accordingly, the imaging extension prevents malicious web content frominappropriately accessing services. Note that the API of the imagingextension 22 typically does not supply references to actual resources,i.e., composition stores, user profile stores, located on the network,and it only accepts these references under controlled circumstances(such as when adding a reference for a graphic located in a website'sgraphic store to a composition).

As noted above, normally web content isn't allowed to supply URL's tothe imaging extension. The reason for this is that if the web contentwere able to supply URL's, it could exploit this capability to attemptto inappropriately gain access to network services that the web contenthas no business trying to access. e.g., it could arbitrarily choose and“hack” graphic store services. Although normally inappropriate to allowweb content to supply URL's to the imaging extension, there are somecircumstances where it may make sense from a security and riskstandpoint. As noted above, a web site supplying web content can haveits own graphic store. The graphics in this graphic store (whether realor virtual) have URL's or other references that must be used inreferencing these graphics. If the web content wants to create acomposition that contains such a reference, it must have some way ofsupplying this reference to the imaging extension. Allowing web contentto supply references to graphics coming from the same location as theweb content is usually fairly benign. Thus, instead of allowing webcontent to arbitrarily choose any URL in the user's personal imagingrepository, under the controlled situation of supplying a URL to thesame web site as the web content or based on credentials, the webcontent may be allowed to supply the URL to the imaging extension. Thisallows web site provided graphics to be referenced, while stillmaintaining a reasonable level of security.

Accordingly, in the example of the web content desiring to create, hostand use a graphic store on the web content's own web site's server, theweb content may be permitted to add a reference to the graphics hostedby it's web site to a composition that the web content is creating ormodifying. In this example, the web content would make use of an APImethod (a CreateOpaqueRefFromURL(Session, URL) in the imaging extensionAPI—that would convert the URL of a graphic in the web site's graphicstore into an opaque reference. The web content could then use theopaque reference to add the graphic to a composition. Access to this APImethod functionality would likely be based on the site's credentials oron a determination that the URL supplied from the web site is to thesame web site as the web content that has originated this operation.

GRAPHIC STORE The present invention includes as an important aspectthereof the use of a graphic store configuration. The graphic store, incontrast to storage at a web server which operates to simply “GET”whatever data corresponds to a given URL, provides services thatget/operate on/create/reformat/translate graphics. In one aspect of theinvention, the graphic store can dynamically create graphics withcurrent data by referencing data in common with associated web services.A given graphic store can provide remote storage for a user and canbecome part of the user's personal imaging repository, so that the userdoes not need to provide storage for a graphic he/she wishes toprocess/operate on. This aspect is particularly important for a useroperating PDA's and other devices without high capacity storagecapabilities—such as is typically required to store graphic data. Ofgreat importance, the graphics store can provide the ability tocommunicate with the web content of various web services. For example,web content from a printer web service can ask questions of the graphicsstore, such as how many pages are in the graphic to be printed(typically, the web content would query the composition for the numberof pages, which would in turn request this information from each graphicstore that contains a graphic referenced in the composition, ifrequired). The printer web content can also request that the pages ofthe graphic be transmitted in a desired order other than chronologicalorder to thereby improve printer performance.

A graphic store can be implemented in a variety of ways, but there aretwo typical variations, each with slightly different elements:

Variation 1 (shown as graphic store 1000 in FIG. 10):

-   1) A storage 1010 for storing graphic files;-   2) Programmatic logic 1020 implementing a graphic store interface    (API) (used by web services and by clients in general). This logic    provides a means of storing and retrieving graphics in the storage    1010;-   3) A connection interface 1030 to a network (to which users are    connected); and-   4) A connection interface 1040 to the web service (which could be    the same as the connection 1030 to the network, but might be    different).

Variation 2 (shown as graphics store 1100 in FIG. 11):

-   1) Programmatic logic 1120 implementing a graphic store interface    (API). This logic provides a means of satisfying requests for    information and data including information and data relating to a    “virtual” graphic. This logic uses a resource shared between the web    server and the graphic store. This other shared resource could be    another server on the network, for example a POP server for email.-   2) A connection interface 1130 to the network (to which users are    connected).-   3) A connection interface 1150 to a resource which is shared between    the web server and the graphics store (which could be the same as    the connection to the network, but might be different).-   4) An optional cache 1110 for storing graphics that are generated    dynamically (when requested).

Note for FIG. 11, the connection between the web service and the graphicstore may be indirect, through the specification of information aboutthe shared resource that is placed by the web service in the URLreferencing the desired graphic. The web service initially generates aURL that represents a virtual graphic, i.e., one that must beobtained/created by reference to a shared resource. Accordingly, the URLitself specifies the shared resource where the graphic may beobtained/created. This URL also specifies the graphic store where thevirtual graphic can be accessed. When the user clicks on a button in theweb content in the user's browser in order to obtain this graphic, theabove noted URL for the graphic is referenced by the web content, and issubsequently supplied to the graphics store. The URL containsinformation about the shared resource (in addition to specifying thegraphic store), which is later used to identify the shared resource. Forexample, the virtual graphic might be referenced by the URLhttp://graphicstore.webmail.com/msg?mailserver=imap.webmail.com&user=joe&msgid=12453. This URL has encoded within it several key pieces ofinformation. It contains the identity of the graphic store,graphicstore.webmail.com, the identity of the mail server,imap.webmail.com, the identity of the user, joe, and the identity of themail message, 12453. On receipt of this URL from the web content, thegraphics store calls a method to interpret the URL and to generate acall to the shared resource to obtain/create the desired graphic.

For example, if the graphic store received a request for a thumbnailJPEG bitmap of page one of the virtual graphic referenced byhttp://graphicstore.webmail.com/msg?mailserver=imap.webmail.com&user=joe&msgid=12453, the graphic store would contact the email serverimap.webmail.com using the IMAP protocol and request data regardingmessage 12453 for user joe. The graphic store would then convert theemail message data into a thumbnail JPEG bitmap of page one and use thatbitmap to satisfy the quest. The email message data might be convertedinto a series of pages using conventional mechanisms that allow text tobe converted into printable graphics (i.e. PDF). The printable graphicscould be converted into a bitmap using conventional mechanisms thatallow print graphics to be converted into bitmaps (such as the opensource Ghostscript graphics translator).

The graphic store interface (API) could take a variety of differentforms depending on the services that the graphic store wishes to provideand the types of dialogue it wishes to support with web content. Forexample, it could take the form of:

-   -   a method or methods for determining information about a graphic,        including (for example):    -   number of pages (or more generally speaking, canvases)    -   presence of color on any of the pages    -   do all the pages (or canvases) have the same size    -   a method or methods for determining what graphic formats the        entire graphic in storage is available in, including (for        example):    -   Postscript    -   PDF    -   PCL5    -   PCL6    -   PCL6 for the Color LaserJet 4500    -   a method or methods for obtaining the entire graphic in a        graphic format the graphic is available in (graphic translation        is handled implicitly so no explicit translate method is        required);    -   a method or methods for determining the available page orders        the entire graphic is available in and the graphic formats the        graphic is available in for those page orders;    -   a method or methods for obtaining the entire graphic in an        available page order in a graphic format the graphic is        available in;    -   a method or methods for determining what graphic formats a page        (i.e. canvas) of the graphic is available in, including (for        example):    -   JPEG    -   GIF    -   PNG    -   Partial PDF    -   a method or methods for obtaining a page (i.e. canvas) of the        graphic in a graphic format the page (i.e. canvas) is available        in.

NOTE: The desired page order can be achieved by obtaining the entiregraphic with the pages in the desired order or obtaining in the desiredorder each individual page.

Typically, the resource, as well as the web service associated with thegraphics store, and the graphics store itself, each has its ownreference, which may be a URL. The graphic store, as noted above, canprovide remote storage for a user that has downloaded web content fromthe associated web service. The graphic store can also be accessedindirectly by users through other web services.

Note that the association between a web service and a graphics store isparticularly advantageous where a user needs temporary or permanentstorage in order to operate on/process graphics from one web service atanother web service. For example, a user might access with his/herbrowser a first web service (a web cam, for example) and use the webcontent therefrom to create a web cam image graphic within a graphicsstore associated with that first web service and to also create acomposition therefor in a default composition store in the user'spersonal imaging repository, and add a reference to the newly createdcomposition (typically a URL) of the web cam graphic in the graphicstore. The user can then browse to a second web service (for example, aprinter to print the web cam image). The web content from the second webservice can then access the web cam image graphic through the referencein the newly created composition and perform its printing function withthat web cam image data, One of the advantages to this sequence is thatthe user does not have to provide storage for the web cam graphic.

It should be noted that in a further aspect of the present invention,some web services, both inside and outside the firewall, may find it tobe commercially important to have graphic stores associated therewiththat have long term stability, so that there is no need to create a newgraphic for them in another graphics store. As noted above, the graphicstore associated with the web service could be made part of the personalimaging repository by referencing it via a URL, pointer or otherconvenient reference. (A graphic store is effectively made to be part ofa user's personal imaging repository by referencing a graphic withinthat graphic store from the user's personal imaging repository. It'sactually more accurate to think of graphics, compositions, and userprofiles as being part of the user's personal imaging repository ratherthan thinking of the individual services. In fact, it's possible to haveonly part of the graphics available through a graphic store referencedby the user's personal imaging repository.) An example of such anassociated graphics store might be a server repository for archivalstorage of news articles, with the graphics store functionalitydescribed herein. A reference in a composition could reference thisgraphic within the graphics store in the archival storage service.

As noted earlier, a special aspect of the present invention is theability in the graphics store to create graphics “on the fly.” Thisaspect is facilitated by the association of the web service and agraphics store and a resource, as in the configuration shown in FIG. 11.A reference can be provided in a composition to a resource that doesn'treally exist in the graphics store, if there is the ability to simulatethe existence of that resource. For example, assume that a web servicethat has a graphics store associated therewith adds to the user'spersonal imaging repository (through web content acting on its behalf) aURL reference to a famous document in the associated graphics store asfollows: “http://famousdocs.com?doc=declarationofindependence”. A usermight subsequently ask, via the web content (presumably from another webservice or the same web service) in his browser, for a bitmap (e.g.,jpeg) image of the first page of the document referenced by this URL.The graphics store, which would be accessed (indirectly through theimaging extension) by the web content via this reference, might not havethe actual JPEG image of the first page, but only a text file of thefamous document in question. But the graphics store might includevarious services including a text-to-bitmap conversion service. Fromthis text file, the graphics store would generate with this conversionservice a bitmap of the first page and return the requested bitmap tothe user at his/her browser.

In a second example, a user might browse to a webmail service and get aURL like “http://graphicstore.webmail.com?imap=imap1.webmail.com&user=john smith&messageid=23456” corresponding to an emailmessage of the user. Later, the user might request, via the web contentin his browser indirectly contacting the graphics store, for the firstpage of this email message formatted to be printed in the form of a jpegimage. In this case, the email message is actually stored in anothernetwork service like an “IMAP service,” which is responsible for storingand providing access to email messages. In response to the user'srequest, since the graphics store does not actually have what the useris asking for, the graphics store would contact the IMAP service usingthe information embedded within the reference, obtain the user's emailmessage, format the email message for printing using a service that alsomay be available at the graphics store, and then using a differentservice at the graphics store to generate a bitmap of the first page.(The services mentioned in the previous sentence might be replaced withsimple code libraries that would be used by the graphic store service.In fact, in the preferred implementation, this would be done.)

Note that the graphic store does not need to be on the same machine asthe web server for the web service. It may be located on anothermachine. The key point is that web content coming from the web serviceassociated with the graphic store “knows” about the graphic store anduses the graphic store by generating an appropriate URL (or moregenerally a reference) that refers back to the graphic store. Asdiscussed here, the graphics store doesn't even need to have theresource in question—just the ability to respond to requests regardingthat resource. This is important because it reduces the need for storageat the graphics store, ensures that information is up-to-date (becausemultiple copies introduce the possibility that one copy will becomeout-of-date), and allows some operations to be completed more quickly.For example, if a graphics store is asked by web content whether or nota particular graphic (in this case a virtual graphic) contains anycolor, the composition store may be able to respond very quickly to thatquestion based on knowledge about the underlying information (forexample an email message).

It should be understood that there is a distinction between a graphicstore interface and a graphic store implementation. The graphic storeinterface is the set of methods that all graphic store services mustimplement in order to be a graphic store. The graphic storeimplementation is how these interfaces are implemented. Theimplementation may vary widely from graphic store to graphic store.

The term “associated” in the context of a web service and a graphicsstore may take a number of variations. In the example in the paragraphabove with the graphics store associated with a web service, the graphicstore would preferably be implemented in such a way so as to know aboutthe way the web applications in the associated web service store datainternally. Every web application in a web service has its own internaldata representation that is used during the operation of theapplication. A properly implemented graphic store that is tightlyintegrated with an application on a web service would have access to andcould use this internal data representation to optimize its behavior(since the graphic store and web server could be implemented as part ofa larger web service and could share the internal data representation).For example, an application providing graphics used to produce a bookletmight have information in its internal data about the number of pagesavailable. This page count information could be accessed directly by thegraphics store without generating print ready data, if the applicationis tightly integrated with that graphics store. Providing timelyinformation about the number of pages would enhance the operation of thebooklet making web service, since this information is required to formatthe booklet correctly.

A variety of different stores and other configurations including theimaging extension have been described, each with their own APIs. A setof example APIs are set forth below for a number of the stores and theimaging extension disclosed herein. Note that the example API sets arenot complete sets, but are set forth to provide a representative idea ofthe typical APIs that would be present. Notably missing from the APIsets are error handling and position information methods. The API setsbelow are not intended to be limiting in any sense, and are intended asexamples only. The API sets are expressed using C/C++/Java/Perl stylesyntax (loosely). Also note that these are ad hoc APIs that would notmesh with certain broader aspects of web-based imaging provided in thispatent application, and are provided as one example only.

The API is written using conventional notation. This notation isdescribed in most introductory texts for most programming languages.However, this notation is example notation and no limitation thereto isintended. The general form of a method that makes up an API is:

returnType MethodName ( ParameterType1 parameterName1, ParameterType2parameterName2, . . . );

Where, returnType is the type returned by the method. Typically, themeaning of the value returned is obvious from the name of the method.For example, the method “string GetPresidentsAddress( )” returns a valueof type “string”, which from the name of the method can be determined tocontain the President's address.

MethodName is the name of the method. This name should be a concisedescription of the purpose of the method.

ParameterTypeN is the type for parameter N, where N is the nth parameterin the argument list of the method. Parameter types indicate the dataformat of the parameter that is passed to the method, such as string,integer, or more complex structures/objects. Parameter types may or maynot be descriptive of the meaning of the parameter. If they are not, itis necessary to include a parameter name to ensure that the readerunderstands the meaning of the parameter.

parameterNameN is the name for parameter N, where N is the nth parameterin the argument list of the method. Parameter names should indicate themeaning of the parameter. Sometimes they are redundant and can beoptionally omitted. For example, a parameter described as “Sessionsession” with a parameter type of Session and a parameter name ofsession is needlessly redundant. In these cases, it is typical to omitthe parameter in describing the method of the API.

It should be noted that a parameter named “OpaqueRefpreferredDestination” is compatible with return values of typeOpaqueRef. The name “preferredDestination” is merely the descriptivename of the parameter and does not determine parameter compatibility.Return values do not typically have names, since the meaning of thereturn value is implied by the method name. Any notes are identified by//.

The foregoing includes a plurality of innovative APIs. Note in thevarious APIs the Set methods for setting a preferred printer listdestination (PreferredPrinterDestinationList, i.e., a list of printersthat will be displayed or otherwise offered for selection), a preferredprinter destination (PreferredPrinterDestination, i.e., a singlepreferred printer that will be selected and a printer settings pagedisplayed or otherwise offered for selection), and a preferred print nowdestination (PreferredPrintNowDestination, i.e., a printer selected foruse with preset settings—no opportunity to set the print settings) inthe User's Profile in the User Profile Store, as well as a method forselecting a preferred print destination based on criteria(PrintActionCriteria) and a context (PrintActionContext). These methodsuse the arguments “userProfileStoreSession” and “uRLpreferred . . .” or“printActionCriteria.” Typically, the reference will be a URL, but mayalso be some other convenient reference, such as a proprietary encodingscheme for identifying (and thus referencing) the resource in question.

Likewise, note the various Get methods “GetReference . . .” or“GetPrintActionCriteria” for getting one of the references set by thesetting method for the preferred printer list destination, the preferredprinter destination, the preferred printnow destination, and thePrintActionCriteria in the User's Profile in the User Profile Store.These methods use the argument “UserProfileStoreSession” and return a“URL, or the “PrintActionCriteria.”

The GetDestinationPrintActionCriteriaAndContext is of particularinterest. This method is used to Get the user's preferred print actionin a particular situation (context), based on criteria, i.e., prescribedrules. This method would redirect the browser to the preferred printerlist, PreferredPrinterListDestination, (so he or she can choose from anumber of available printers), or redirect the browser to the preferredprinter PreferredPrinterDestination (so he or she can choose optionsrelating to that printer), or redirect the browser to the preferredprint now destination PreferredPrintNowDestination (so printing willbegin immediately), or some other printer that is preferred in aparticular context. Although each of these three or more destinationscan be designated specifically, i.e., the application explicitlyprovides a mechanism for the user to choose “PrinterList,” or “Printer,”or “PrintNow,” other applications might simply provide a mechanism forthe user to generically choose “print,” without specifying which of the“PrinterList,” “Printer,” “PrintNow,” or other destination that theuser's browser should be directed to. Alternatively, the web contentcould provide a web page that contains both a “print” button and a“PrintNow” button. The generic “print” button would use thePrintActionCriteria and PrintActionContext andGetPrintActionDestinationUsingCriteriaAndContext (or whatever thefunction is called) discussed below to determine the actual URL theuser's browser would be redirected to. The “PrintNow” button wouldsimply use the “PrintNow” destination as obtained using the function“GetPrintNowDestination” (or whatever the function is called).

The purpose of GetDestinationUsingPrintActionCriteriaAndContext is tohelp determine which of the available print actions should be undertakenand returns a reference to the preferred destination to which thebrowser should be redirected. This method takes as parameters Session,and type PrintActionContext and type PrintActionCriteria.PrintActionContext provides information that might be useful indetermining the destination using theGetDestinationUsingPrintActionCriteriaAndContext method. Such contextinformation might be the URL of the current website, the type of thecurrent website (for example, as determined by a tag in the currentwebsite), where the user is located, whether the user is inside oroutside of a firewall, and various other information. ThePrintActionCriteria may be a set of rules, conditional logic or othercriteria to use/interpret the context information to determine thepreferred destination. By way of example but not by way of limitation, aset of rules/conditional logic might be:

If website is—Amazon.com, then destination isPreferredPrintNowDestination;

If website is—a productivity website (based on a tag in the web contentfor the website, for example), then the destination isPreferredPrinterDestination;

If user location is—outside of office, then the destination is PrinterA;

If user location is—in office, then the destination is PreferredPrinterListDestination;

If the firewall status is—outside of office, then use PrinterB.

The method GetDestinationUsingPrintActionCriteriaAndContext wouldinterpret the forgoing rules in the data structure of thePrintActionCriteria based on the information from the PrintActionContextto determine the destination.

Note in the imaging extension example API the methods for browsing to apreferred print destination using an opaque reference. The methodsinclude “CreateOpaqueRefFromURL, which uses the “URL” as an argument andreturns “OpaqueRef;” and the method “BrowseToPreferredDestination” whichuses the arguments “Session, OpaqueRef preferredDestination” to causethe browser to browse to the URL reference without exposing the URL tothe Web content.

Referring to the example API for the imaging extension, note thecomparable method set for getting an opaque reference “OpaqueRef” forthe printer list destination, the preferred printer destination, theprint now destination, and the preferred imaging home page destinationusing the appropriate GetReference methods. Likewise, note the set ofmethods for setting the reference to the preferred destination, i.e.,the PreferredPrintListerDestination, PreferredPrinterDestination,PreferredPrintNowDestination, and the PreferredImagingHomePageDestination, using the appropriate “SetReferenceTo . . .” method with the arguments of type “Session, OpaqueRef.”

Likewise, note the method for setting print action criteria fordetermining an automatic print destination, i.e.,“SetPrintActionCriteria” which uses the arguments“UserProfileStoreSession” and “PrintActionCriteria.” Also included is aGet method “Sessions, PrintActionDestinationPreference.” TheSetPrintActionDestinationPreference is the default destination which isused if no PreferredPrinterList, or PreferredPrinter orPreferredPrintNow or PreferredImagingHomePage has been selected at thebrowser. Also included is a Get method for getting an opaque reference“OpaqueRef” for the PrintActionDestinationPreference set in the settingreference using the arguments “Sessions,PrintActionDestinationPreference.” Also included is a Get method “GetPrintActionDestinationPreference” using the argument “Session” to getthe PrintActionDestinationPreference.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown the same configuration as FIG.1, but with the imaging client 12 outside of the firewall 14. In thissituation, none of the servers inside of the firewall 14, including thecomposition stores and the graphic stores, would be accessible. This isillustrated by graying out the servers inside the firewall and alsograying out the reference to the internal user profile.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a different configuration of the presentinvention is provided. Like-numbered blocks take the same meaning as inFIGS. 1 and 2. In this configuration, the imaging client 300 includes aweb browser 318 that has downloaded web content 316, an imagingextension 322, and a user information block 320, which operatesubstantially as described previously. However, in this configuration,the imaging client 300 includes thereon the user profile 360. The userprofile 360 is designed for both internal (inside the firewall)operation, and external (outside the firewall) operation. Accordingly,this user profile 360 includes a user identification (not shown), aswell as a reference 367 to a default internal composition store 62, areference 368 to a default internal graphics store 60, a reference 377to a default external composition store 72, a reference 378 to a defaultexternal graphics store 70, and may include a reference 390 to a defaultcomposition.

Additionally, in the imaging client there is code for invoking a methodto access the references stored in the user profile 360. Typically, thisinvoked method would also include code to select the appropriatereferences based on a criteria. By way of example, this code couldprovide a user interface to allow the user to select manually thedefault composition store and the default graphics store. Alternativelyor in addition, the code could automatically select a defaultcomposition store and a default graphics store based on a criteria, suchas for example but not by way of limitation, the type or identificationof the imaging client machine being used by the user, or whether theimaging client has connected to a network inside the firewall 14 or isotherwise inside the firewall or whether it is outside the firewall.

Note that the imaging client 300 is shown in FIG. 3 inside of thefirewall 14. Accordingly, the browser 318 in the imaging client hasaccess to the web servers 30 and 32 inside of the firewall, as well asthe servers 40 and 42 outside of the firewall. Also, the user has theoption to select a default composition store and a default graphicsstore either inside or outside of the firewall.

FIG. 4 shows the same configuration as in FIG. 3, except that theimaging client 300 is outside of the firewall 14. Thus, the imagingclient does not have access to the web servers 30 and 32 and thecomposition store 62 and the graphics store 60 inside of the firewall14. This lack of access in this case is illustrated by graying out theservers 30, 32, 60, and 62, as well as the references 367 and 368 to thedefault internal composition store and the default internal graphicsstore.

GROUP COMPOSITION STORE Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown aconfiguration of the present invention wherein there is at least onecomposition store 500 and one graphics store 501 that is shared by aplurality of imaging clients 502 and 505. Like numbered references havethe same meaning as per FIG. 1. Note that each imaging client 502 and505 includes a web browser 18 that has downloaded web content 16, aswell as an imaging extension 22, and a user identification 20. In theexample shown for illustration of the concepts, the web content 16 forthe imaging client 502 includes web content from either of the webservers 30 or 32 that are inside of the firewall, while the web content16 for the imaging client 505 includes web content from a web server 40outside of the firewall. (Note that this diagram is for ease ofillustration only. Both imaging clients 502 and 505, because they areinside of the firewall 14, have access to all of the web servers, insideof and outside of the firewall 14, and may download web contenttherefrom.) The user identification 20 in or loaded into the imagingclient 502, includes a reference to a server 566 that contains the userprofile 564 of interest. Likewise, the user information 20 in or loadedinto the imaging client 505 includes a reference 524 to a user profile574 on the server 576.

It should be noted that a given “imaging client” might just be a publicmachine at an airport. This public machine might be used by inserting a“smart card” into the public machine. The smart card would contain the“user information 20”. Accordingly, the user profile is generallyassociated with the user—not the imaging client machine, per se. Notethat there might be many distinct “user identification 20's” that allreference the same user profile (or set of user profiles). For example,there might be one “user identification 20” in the user's laptop andanother in the user's mobile phone—both of which refer to the same userprofile.)

Referring again to FIG. 4, the user profile 564 includes a reference 567to a default composition store 62, a reference 568 to a default graphicsstore 60, a reference 569 to a default composition, and a reference 590to the group composition store 500.

Likewise, the user profile 574 includes a reference 577 to a defaultcomposition store 72, a reference 578 to a default graphics store 70, areference 579 to a default composition, and a reference 591 to the groupcomposition store 500.

It can be seen that the group composition store 500 and the groupgraphics store 501 are disposed on the same server 508, for ease ofillustration. However, they may be on different servers. The groupcomposition store 500 includes a plurality of compositions that eachreferences a graphic in the group graphics store for ease ofillustration. There is no requirement that a composition in the groupcomposition store reference a graphic in the group graphics store. Itcould reference a graphic anywhere. Additionally, one composition 509references a graphic 511 in a graphics store 513 in a server 40 outsideof the firewall 14.

Note that when the web content uses the imaging extension to obtain andthen display to the user a list of all available compositions (for usewith the web content currently operating in the imaging client 12), allaccessible compositions in the various composition stores, including thegroup composition store(s) will be on the list. A dialogue is thencommenced with the user to select the desired composition, whichselection may include a composition in the group composition store.

There can be several group composition stores available for differentgroups. For each group composition store that the user accesses, therewill be a reference to that group composition store in one of thatuser's profiles. Note that a reference to a particular group compositionstore is typically added to the user's profile by the user “subscribing”to the group composition store. This might be accomplished by the userbrowsing to a web service, which downloads web content into the user'sbrowser which uses an imaging extension to add a reference to that groupcomposition store to the user's profile. This reference could later beremoved by browsing to another web service that is allowed to removereferences to group composition stores from the user profile. Once thereference is added to the user profile for the group composition store,then whenever the web content enumerates all of the compositionsavailable, the compositions contained within the group composition storewill be included (along with compositions in other composition storesassociated with the user's profile, such as the default compositionstore). Thus, whatever compositions happen to be in the groupcomposition store are automatically available to the web content/user.For example, if the user subscribes to People Magazine (making the usera member of the “People magazine subscribers group”), a reference to thepeople magazine group composition store might be provided to the user'sprofile. This group composition store might contain issues of Peoplemagazine. As new issues come out, these new issues would be added to thePeople magazine group composition store. Because the user has areference to the People magazine group composition store in his/her userprofile, the new issues of people magazine (represented as compositionsin the group composition store) would automatically be a part of theuser's personal imaging repository. The user would be able to selectthem like any other composition available in the user's personal imagingrepository and subsequently use them. The user would not need toexplicitly choose the group composition store—once a reference theretois added to the user's profile, it is always a part of the user'spersonal imaging repository and compositions from it will be enumeratedwhen available compositions are listed for selection by the user throughthe web content, unless the user removes it. It should be noted that theuser would not necessarily be aware that he/she was specificallychoosing a composition from the group composition store—the user wouldjust think he/she was choosing a composition.

Note that there may be two or more group composition stores and groupgraphics stores, with some being inside the firewall and some beingoutside the firewall. Accordingly, if the imaging client is outside ofthe firewall, then the available compositions enumerated by the webcontent for selection by the user would not include compositions ingroup composition stores that are inside of the firewall.

The use of a group composition store 500 and/or the group graphic store501 is particularly advantageous for making a set of compositionsavailable to a group of users. For example, a monthly newsletter couldbe added to the group composition store. This newsletter compositioncould then be accessed for the purpose of printing, and othermanipulations. The group composition store/graphics store makes imaginginformation automatically available to a user based on his/heraffiliation with some group. This affiliation would be indicated in theuser profile for each person. Note that there could be several distinctgroup composition store/graphic stores for each group with which theuser is affiliated. As additional imaging information becomes availablein these group composition stores, the user would automatically havethat imaging information in his/her personal imaging repository becausethe group composition store is a part of that user's personal imagingrepository, via the reference to the group composition store in theuser's user profile.

As another example, inventors might imagine sharing patent applicationinformation. A patent application comprises (at least) three parts:Descriptive text, claims, and figures. One inventor could work on thedescriptive text and then create a composition in the group compositionstore that references a graphic that contains the descriptive text.Another inventor could do the same thing for the figures. A thirdinventor could do the same thing for the claims. Because compositionsrepresenting these elements are in the group composition store, all ofthe inventors would have access to them, via their respective personalimaging repositories. If new items are added or updated, all of theinventors would have access to the latest versions.

The group composition store simply makes the same compositions availableto a group of people. If two users have user profiles that contain areference to a group composition store, both users will have access tothe compositions stored within that group composition store. If a newcomposition is added or an existing composition updated in some way,both users will have access to that added/updated composition. Thecompositions (and the graphics referenced by those compositions) storedwithin the group composition store become a part of the “personalimaging repository” for each of the users. Note that if the imagingclient for a given user is outside the firewall, any group compositionstore (there can be several) that is located within the firewall willbecome inaccessible to that imaging client.

Referring now to FIG. 6A and 6B, one example implementation of theoperation of the present invention is illustrated to provide an ease ofunderstanding. The invention is not intended to be limited to thisspecific sequence of operational steps. In addition, one of ordinaryskill in the art would realize that each of the steps could beimplemented in other comparable ways.

In FIG. 6A the operation begins at the start block 600, indicating thatthe imaging client 12 has been activated. Typically, this isaccomplished by the user inputting his/her user's login name andpassword or inserting a card into a generic imaging client. Theexecution then moves to block 602, wherein a user profile is selected.The details for the selection of the user profile will be discussed inmore detail with respect to FIG. 7. In this example, the browser on theimaging client 12 then browses to a supplier web server 30, for example,in block 604. A supplier web server would supply graphics for subsequentprocessing, possibly at another web service, i.e., a consuming webservice.

The operation then moves to block 606, wherein supplier web content fromthe server 30 is requested and downloaded to the imaging client 12. Theforegoing steps of browsing to the web server and obtaining supplier webcontent, in one embodiment, would comprise the user inputting anappropriate URL for a web page of a web site. The browser 18 at theimaging client 12 would receive this URL input, and in response,transmit an appropriate request (in some cases through a firewall) forthe web page to a web server. The web server, for example web server 30,would receive this request and respond by transmitting the desired webpage to the web browser. The browser 18 would receive the transmittedweb page and display it.

Web pages comprise a series of tags, most of which describe the way thatthe web page should look, but also include tags to specify hyperlinks toother locations (another web site, web page on the current site, orlocation within the current page, for example). Conceptually, the webpage would include a text portion and one or more hyperlinks, such as a“get document service” hyperlink to provide the graphic for thedocument. The text portion may include information regarding thedocument creation service provided by the web server 30, and potentiallyalso information on the cost to use the service and a means for the userto enter payment. The hyperlink is formatted such that, when selected bythe user, the browser will transmit an appropriate request back to theweb server 30 for the document creation supplier web content, which isthen downloaded to the browser 18.

Thus, the supplier web content 16, now residing in the imaging client12, presents a variety of options for accessing, manipulating andotherwise using the graphics at or accessible by the web server.

The operation then moves to block 608, wherein it is assumed that theuser chooses via the hyperlink, or by means of automatic selection, anoption to do something with the graphic, such as get the document. Thebrowser 18 receives this user input and transmits an appropriate requestto the web server 30 for the document creation web content.

The operation then moves to block 610, wherein the supplier web contentrequests from the user profile a reference to a graphics store in theuser's personal imaging repository. Typically, this would be an opaquereference for reference 68 to a default graphics store 60. To accomplishthis, the supplier web content calls a method that is part of the APIprovided by the imaging extension 22. This method logs into thereferenced graphics store. At this time, the web content may determinewhether or not the graphic store prefers a particular graphic format andgenerally what graphic formats are supported by the graphic store. Thegraphic format doesn't necessarily need to be compatible for anyspecific purpose, such as printing. It merely needs to be compatiblewith the graphic store so that the graphic store can operate on thesupplied graphic format.

It should be noted that there are two web contents operating, typicallysequentially: web content from a supplier web service and web contentfrom a consumer web service. The user adds graphic data supplied fromone web service (the supplier web service) to their personal imagingrepository, then uses that graphic data by browsing to another webservice for processing (the consuming web service). Initially, thesupplying web service downloads its web content to the user's browserand uses that web content to add a graphic to the user's personalimaging repository, as discussed in more detail herein. Then theconsuming web service downloads its web content to the user's browserand accesses the graphic in the user's personal imaging repository tooperate on it. The web content provided by the consuming web servicewill deliver web content that indicates those data formats supported bythe consuming web service. Typically, consuming web services will useJPEG, PNG, GIF formats will use information about the graphic such assize, number of pages, etc. By way of example but not by way oflimitation, assume that graphic data is to be processed by a consumingweb service, such as a printer web service, because the user has browsedto the printer web service and caused the web content of the printer webservice to be downloaded to the browser. The printer web service webcontent will interact with the graphics store in the user's personalimaging repository 50 and will select a data format with which it iscompatible; for a printer web service, typically PDF, PCL, PS, and PCL6.In other words, the consuming web content from the printer web servicewill “know” (by virtue of its origin) what data format isappropriate/compatible with that printer web service and will query thegraphics store to determine if there is a match between the data formatthat may be used at the consuming printer web service and the dataformat that is available from the graphics store, and will then make theappropriate selection from the formats available from the graphicsstore.

This format information could be selected automatically, or manually viaan input from the user through a user interface.

In block 614, based on these graphics format options, the consuming webcontent would choose a graphics format for the graphic on the server 30.

At this or an earlier point the supplier web content would also displaya user interface with selectable options that might include a pull-downmenu to allow the user to indicate where he/she would like the documentsaved, i.e., in a graphics store associated with the web service fromwhich the graphic was supplied (which graphic store could then bereferenced by a composition in a composition store that is part of theuser's personal imaging repository and thereby made a part of the user'spersonal imaging repository), or in a default graphics store in theuser's personal imaging repository. It is better to use the user'sdefault graphic store in the user's personal imaging repository if theweb service in question is not always available (or more particularly,the graphic store associated with that web service). Some web serviceswill not have a graphic store or cannot be counted on to reliablyprovide graphics. For example, a web service representing a camera (suchas one that runs on the user's local machine—i.e. the imaging clientmachine) won't have a graphic store since it is likely that the camerawill only be connected to the user's imaging client temporarily.

Assuming that the save option has been selected and the graphics storeselected either manually or automatically, the operation would then moveto block 616 wherein the supplier web content via appropriate opaquereferences would create a new graphic in the selected graphics store,which could be the default graphics store 60 referenced by the userprofile. The operation then moves to block 618, wherein the web contentopens the created graphic in the default graphics store 60 for thepurpose of writing data.

The operation then moves to block 620, wherein the web content generatesa message or a sequence of messages requesting the desired graphic datafrom the web server 30 in the appropriate format. The operation thenmoves to block 622, wherein the web content receives one or moremessages in the selected format and writes, via the imaging extensionAPI, the graphic data in these messages to the open graphic in thegraphics store.

More specifically, the imaging extension 22 receives the generic accessrequests from the web content and responds with a method in its APIusing appropriate opaque references in the preferred embodiment, tocause the data in the message(s) to be stored in the graphics store 60.As noted previously, this may involve a communication over acommunication link to a remote graphics store, or it may simply involvestorage to a designated section of a hard drive on the imaging client12, both of which may be in the personal imaging repository for theuser. Note that since the HTTP protocol may be used, the extension maycommunicate these messages containing the graphic through the firewall14. The graphics store responds to these commands by storing themessages in one or more graphics files.

The operation then moves to block 624, wherein the supplier web contentretains an opaque reference through the imaging extension API to thenewly created graphic and then closes the open graphic. The operationthen moves to block 626, wherein the web content retrieves a reference67 in the user profile for a default composition store. This defaultcomposition store 62 may be determined in accordance with apredetermined criteria set by the user or may be set automatically.

The operation then moves to block 628, wherein the supplier web content,through the opaque references from the imaging extension API, logs intothe default composition store 62 and creates a composition within thecomposition store 62. The operation then moves to block 630, wherein thesupplier web content, through the opaque references from the imagingextension API, adds a reference to the newly created graphic in thegraphic store 60 to the composition just created in the compositionstore 62.

The operation then moves to block 632, wherein the supplier web content,through the opaque references from the imaging extension API, changesthe reference 69 in the user profile 64 for the default composition torefer to the composition just created in the composition store 62. Theoperation then moves to block 634, wherein the supplier web contentdirects the browser to initiate the use initially selected by the userfor the graphic, for example printing. Because the newly createdcomposition is set as the default composition, it will be selected andused by follow-on web services, e.g., printers, to perform servicesthereon.

Referring to FIG. 7, there are disclosed details for one exampleimplementation of block 602 in FIG. 6. In FIG. 7 the initial operationin block 700 is for a request to be made by the supplier web content tothe imaging extension API for user identification information regardingavailable user profiles. As with other operations, this request wouldactually be transmitted through the imaging extension's API that wouldoperate to provide opaque references to the user profile and resourcestherein back to the web content. These opaque references would permit anassociation of the web content commands to the appropriate resources atthe imaging client and with the appropriate personal user repository.The operation then moves to block 702, wherein it is determined if morethan one user profile is available for selection. If the determinationis NO, then the operation moves to block 704, wherein the single activeuser profile is associated through the imaging extension API to the webcontent. If the determination is YES, then the operation moves to block706, wherein a method is invoked for determining the correct userprofile. By way of example, this method may comprise displaying a userinterface with buttons to allow the selection of one from a plurality ofavailable user profiles. Alternatively or in addition, the methodinvoked may default to a particular user profile selected earlier by theuser or selected based on a predetermined criteria, such as whether theimaging client is within a firewall, or based on which machine the userhas activated as the imaging client 12.

The operation then moves to block 708, wherein the user profile selectedor automatically determined is associated through the imaging extensionAPI with the web content. The process described in FIG. 7 may also beperformed on behalf of the web content by the imaging extension.

Referring now to FIG. 8, there is shown a schematic example of theoperation of the present invention to create, address and stamp anenvelope. FIG. 8 shows a single composition 800 that references twographics—one for an envelope 808 and one for a stamp 814. The graphic ofthe envelope 808 includes a sending address and a destination address.These are not necessarily the same graphic—but for simplicity they arepart of the same graphic (the envelope graphic). The graphic of theenvelope 808 may be generated from a document using a desktopapplication 806 (for example, Microsoft Word) and a “web imagingprinter” (an operating system print destination that captures print datafrom the application when printing and conveys that information into theuser's personal imaging repository) and placed in the user's defaultgraphic store 810. The stamp graphic 814 shown in the figure may begenerated by a stamp web service 812 and placed in the user's defaultgraphic store 810. Presumably, (although not specifically depicted inthe diagram), the envelop graphic may exist first.

In operation, the user creates the envelop graphic with the “web imagingprinter” along with the corresponding composition 800 from theapplication 806. After the envelope graphic 808 and composition 800 arecreated using the application 806 and the web imaging printer and placedin the user's default graphics store 810, the user browses to a stampservice web site 812 and purchases a stamp. The stamp service web site812 generates image data corresponding to a stamp (typically a barcodefor an electronic stamp) and, using stamp service web site web content,places the image data in a graphic 814 within the user's default graphicstore 810. Having accomplished this, the stamp service web content thenadds the graphic 814 to the envelope composition 800 in a locationappropriate for a stamp. Thus, the diagram illustrates one composition800 referencing two graphics 808 and 814. This composition could thensubsequently be printed—with the stamp.

Although the foregoing description was made in the context of oneimaging client 12 and two server machines 30 and 32 within the firewall,and two server machines 40 and 42 outside the firewall for ease ofexplanation, the preferred implementation would likely involve manyserver machines to which the client machine has access and cancommunicate. For better readability, “a” client machine or servermachine has sometimes been referred to. However, it should be understoodthat the use of “a” also refers to “one or more”.

It should be noted that although the flow charts provided herein shows aspecific order, it is understood that the order of these steps maydiffer from what is depicted. Also, two or more steps may be performedconcurrently or with partial concurrence. Such variation will depend onthe software and hardware systems chosen and generally on designerchoice. It is understood that all such variations are within the scopeof the invention. It is also to be understood that one or more of thesteps may be performed or implemented by a programmed machine, or by ahardwired device, or manually. It should also be understood that many ofthe aspects of the aspects of the present invention are independent of,and may be implemented independently of the API disclosed herein. Forexample, although the use of an imaging extension is preferred in orderto provide an interface between web content and imaging systemresources, many aspect of the present invention may be implementedwithout using an imaging extension.

The foregoing description of a preferred embodiment of the invention hasbeen presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principlesof the invention and its practical application to enable one skilled inthe art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It isintended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claimsappended hereto, and their equivalents.

1. A system for web based imaging comprising: at least one graphic storefor storing a plurality of different graphics; a networked andautonomous group composition store for storing and providing imagingclients access to a plurality of compositions, with each differentcomposition referencing at least one graphic in the at least one graphicstore that is external to the group composition store and includinginformation on a placement of each referenced graphic on a canvas,wherein at least two of the compositions reference the same graphic inthe same graphic store without duplicating the graphic; and a pluralityof different user profiles that are accessed from at least one userprofile store, each for a different imaging client, with each userprofile including a reference to the group composition store, whereinthe profile store is networked and autonomous.
 2. The system as definedin claim 1, further comprising: a default graphics store for at leastone of the imaging clients; a default composition store for the at leastone imaging client, including a composition therein with a reference toa graphic within a graphics store; and wherein the user profile for theat least one imaging client includes a reference to the default graphicstare and the default composition store.
 3. The system as defined inclaim 1, wherein one or more of the user profiles include a reference toa default composition within said group composition store.
 4. The systemas defined in claim 1, further comprising: a firewall protecting saidplurality of imaging clients; and wherein at least one composition insaid group composition store references a graphic outside of saidfirewall.
 5. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the groupcomposition store contains a method that prevent at least selected onesof said imaging clients from deleting or modifying at least onecomposition in the group composition store.
 6. The system as defined inclaim 1, further comprising a web extension that will enumeratecompositions stored in the group composition store as available to theimaging client.
 7. A program product including machine readable programcode for implementing: at least one graphic store for storing aplurality of different graphics; a networked and autonomous groupcomposition store for storing and providing imaging clients access to aplurality of compositions, with each different composition referencingat least one graphic in the at least one graphic store that is externalto the group composition store and including information on a placementof each referenced graphic on a canvas, wherein at least two of thecompositions reference the same graphic in the same graphic storewithout duplicating the graphic; and a plurality of different userprofiles that are accessed from at least one user profile store, eachfor a different imaging client with each user profile including areference to the group composition store, wherein the profile store isnetworked and autonomous.
 8. The program product as defined in claim 7,further comprising program code for implementing: a default graphicsstore for at least one of the imaging clients; a default compositionstore for the at least one imaging client, including a compositiontherein with a reference to a graphic within a graphics store; andwherein the user profile for the at least one imaging client includes areference to the default graphic store and the default compositionstore.
 9. The program product as defined in claim 7, wherein the programcode for one or more of the user profiles include a reference to adefault composition within said group composition store.
 10. The programproduct as defined in claim 7, further comprising program code forimplementing: a firewall protecting said plurality of imaging clients;and wherein at least one composition in said group composition storereferences a graphic outside of said firewall.
 11. The program productas defined in claim 7, wherein the program code for the groupcomposition store contains a method that prevent at least selected onesof said imaging clients from deleting or modifying at least onecomposition in the group composition store.
 12. The program product asdefined in claim 7, further comprising program code for implementing aweb extension that will enumerate compositions stored in the groupcomposition store as available to the imaging client.